Welcome to DBSTalk

Welcome to DBSTalk. Our community covers all aspects of video delivery solutions including: Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS), Cable Television, and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). We also have forums to discuss popular television programs, home theater equipment, and internet streaming service providers. Members of our community include experts who can help you solve technical problems, industry professionals, company representatives, and novices who are here to learn.

Like most online communities you must register to view or post in our community. Sign-up is a free and simple process that requires minimal information. Be a part of our community by signing in or creating an account. The Digital Bit Stream starts here!

I think it's interesting that he uses the word "transmissions." If it wasn't for the "We’ll be entirely Ka-band in about five years." statement, I would assume they were planning on phasing out SD on the KU satellites, and using KA for Ultra-HD...

My personal opinion on the matter is, until they finish the HD rollout, with 100% HD for all channels, they should not waste money on it, unless they plan to use their 3 transponders on 110 for a 4K ESPN3D with Smell-o-vision. I would be highly put off if they expanded their niche formats further before at least matching the rest of the providers on basic HD.

I respect DirecTV for forward thinking!

That being said, I would be ticked if they start focusing on it prior to offering us some of the missing HD channels... then again, I doubt I'll be with DirecTV then, so big whoop I guess...

I KNEW they'd do this eventually. Some FUN questions though. How much horsepower is it going to take for a receiver to be able to record 5 (Or maybe even 8) UHD channels at once, play back something already recorded, download something from on demand, and stream content to RVU clients?! Also, are large enough hard drives going to be available? 4k takes up 4 times as much space as 1080p, so we'll need at LEAST a 4TB drive to match the hours the HR34 can deliver. 8TBs would be even better! And how much is this beast going to cost? lol

I bought my 1st computer in 1985, it was a Compaq portable. I paid $500 (1985 $$) to add a 20M byte (M, not G) hard disk.

I think the issue is more the KU sats will reach the end of their useful life. Without a replacement KU bird, you can't really do much. I think they'd have to be ordering a KU bird pretty quickly to make 5 years no?

I think the issue is more the KU sats will reach the end of their useful life. Without a replacement KU bird, you can't really do much. I think they'd have to be ordering a KU bird pretty quickly to make 5 years no?

I doubt they would give up their ku tps at 101. Sure they've got a fair amount of bandwidth at 99 and 103 with ka and are pursuing 97 for ka but ku does have some advantages and it is easier and cheaper to keep existing bandwidth than it is to get new bandwidth. I'd expect them to get rid of 110/119 ku long before they got rid of 101 ku.

Phasing out SD mpeg 2 transmissions will happen eventually I'm sure but for that even 5 years seems optimistic since I haven't heard of any signs of them moving that direction lately. The last thing I heard point that way was they stopped activating really old receivers with out RID on new accounts but they still offer sd receivers and dvrs on their website. A while back they seemed to be moving that way with the r22 and some of their plans in their investor calls but that seems to have been on hold since the economy went down. They have a lot of legacy hardware out there that would need to be replaced before they could phase mpeg 2 sd out completely and only provide mpeg 4 channels. With the bandwidth they have available in KA at 99 and 103 it just doesn't seem like they really need to spend the money to push the transition. They can do it a lot cheaper if they let things remove the old receivers naturally lowering the number they need to replace.

... because I don't understand your point, so apparently I misjudged numbers as meaningful... I don't know.

I did ask you, and asking again - what is a source of your knowledge about 8K format. Just post an URL please.

I've been reading about 8K for some time now, so I can't really post some links, but apparently fellow posters managed to find some links. I imagine Google would have quite a few links regarding the topic. I can't remember for sure, but I would believe the link I provided on page #1 about 4K probably has some mention of 8K format.

Why should any of this matter? It'll be all sports, except for BBC America which will still be in 480.

Believe it or not, some people watch sports.

And some people don't watch BBC.

Though I'm in the camp that watches BBC and has no interest in sports, I think spartanstew has a very good point. Personally, I think 4K ESPN would be pretty awesome... regardless of whether or not I'd watch it or have access to it.

However, I suspect channels with prerecorded content (PPV, HBO, Cinemax, Discovery, etc.) would go first prior to sports.

I'd also hope for the sake of DirecTV subscribers in the future that BBCA-HD would be in HD by then...

... because I don't understand your point, so apparently I misjudged numbers as meaningful... I don't know.

I've been reading about 8K for some time now, so I can't really post some links, but apparently fellow posters managed to find some links. I imagine Google would have quite a few links regarding the topic. I can't remember for sure, but I would believe the link I provided on page #1 about 4K probably has some mention of 8K format.

~Alan

If you take same amount of time Googling, reading Wiki as did last day, you'll find 4K type, not 8k.Perhaps you can't distinguish lines from horizontal resolution ?Sorry, you are not qualified as valuable source, can't provide any reference, have no minimal understanding and just using the number "8000-line" without meaning as that DTV VP.

I went to the NAB show in Las Vegas last year, 3D was everywhere but already the manufacturers were saying in private that it was dead and wasn't going anywhere. Most were talking up 4K and a few were talking about CinemaWide 1080p. With most filmmakers shooting action-type films on RED or equivalent 4K cameras, it's a natural evolution to bring that down to the consumer level. It's already been in use in government applications (NASA, NSA, other TLO's). There were a few displays, and the depth of the picture was very impressive. If I remember correctly it was in Acer's booth that I saw my first 4K display, and it was across from Panasonic showing off their massive 16' 1080p screen. The specs from the HD working group already have 8K laid out and beyond. When talking about 4K and 8K, you have to take into account the RAW image specifications, which may include visual timing details. The RED ONE maximum RAW image size is 4480x2304. If you look closely at a live shoot for almost any television show or movie, on the director's screen you'll see several sets of white box outlines, which cues the director to what will show in 4x3, in 16x9, 21x9 and full frame formats. When people in the industry talk about 4K and 8K they are simply carrying through the lingo from the RAW formats that the material actually gets shot in, not the broadcast standards they will be displayed in, two different things entirely. UHD 4K exists, although broadcast standards have yet to be worked out. We are 4-8 years from 4K being ubiquitous. UHD 8K is being worked on, but anything beyond the experimental (or TLO usage) is probably 20 years away. Today I'd be much more interested in CinemaWideHD, which better captures the cinemawide frame movies, and is fairly compatible with existing production and broadcast standards. Alas, it appears to have been left as a niche product.